Project One - Experiencing information MA Interaction Design / Theresa Wiesinger
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Project One - Experiencing information
BRIEF
currents new media festival
processing (Version 3)
For the first assignment in “Sketching in Hardware and Software� our brief consists out of the creation of an interactive project, which responds to the set-out criteria of the Currents New Media Festival in Santa Fe, USA. The project should identify & visually/ aurally represent data in context with possible themes addressed by the Currents festival, such as politics, our climate, current environmental issues or globalisation. The functioning and responsive interactive project should then be presented in an appropriate spatial environment.
The Currents New Media Festival showcases a variety of interactive & fine art pieces such as animations, multimedia performances and video installations in order to broaden the definition of modern art making through the usage of technology. The festival aims to bring together artists from around the US and the world to foster a vast international exchange of New Media Arts in the context of current important topics including social, environmental and economical approaches.
Processing is a flexible open source software sketchbook and language, built to teach the fundamentals of computer programming in a visual context, which makes the software popular amongst designers, artists & researchers. Processing’s language is built on the Java language, but uses a way more simplified syntax and graphical user interface.
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Approach and research Research and Brainstorming
1. research - impact of climate Change As represented through glacial loss One of my first research documents, summarising facts and impacts of glacial loss in context with Climate Change.
2. brainstorming session in class My brainstorming key notes of our class based brainstorming session on the 25th of September. Gathering ideas and new approaches on how to visually represent climate change data with feedback from some of my fellow classmates.
For this project, I decided to work with the subject of Climate Change. After researching some initial facts about the topic, I decided to restrict myself to the more detailed aspect of the impact climate change has on glacial loss. Most of the information I gathered was sourced from official governmental authorities or certified environmental organisations, which published their research on various websites. This included facts of all existing glaciers worldwide and their development over the last 50 years as well as the major impacts glacial loss has on our life. In a brainstorming session on the 25th of September, I presented my research to my fellow classmates and brainstormed some initial ideas on how to represent this data in an interactive experience. The feedback was informative and gave me another perspective on how to approach my project in terms of further research and visualisation.
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first ideas
1. First idea The first idea for my project was to show some of my gathered data in the graphical style of how official glacial loss is measured. Any interactions would be based on audio-visual feedback on the floor around the ‘glacial loss rings’.
2. second and third idea My 2nd idea was based on an interactive floor-based experience involving rising water levels and audio-visual feedback providing information. The third idea is an adaption of my first one, with slight adjustments on the approach and place.
3. fourth idea In my fourth idea, I took a more personal approach of how the audience could be included in the interactive experience. Users would match some of their own habits with data related to glacial loss in a very simplified graphical display.
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final idea
1. final idea - planning Some notes and drawings of my final idea and it’s planning.
2. Sketch A sketch on how my final idea could be realised in a spatial environment.
Change of topic
About my final idea
As mentioned in this development booklet before, my original ideas were all based on the approach of climate change through glacial loss. However, as I was looking back after struggling to come up with my first couple of ideas, I realised that the topic I chose was very specific and not very well-known to the broad public as it didn’t necessarily affect them on a personal level. This made my project not very relatable and therefore I decided to change it slightly towards a more approachable climate change aspect.
My final ideas approach is to ‘Stop climate change’ through raising awareness in an entertaining and playful way. Users will participate in a real-live sized experience, which will inform them about the main sources of climate change and how they could make a change towards stopping those sources. The idea is based on a spatial installation, which features two paths, one good and environmental friendly path and one bad path. These paths will feature informational data & stimulate the users to think about climate change.
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DEVELOPMENT in processing approach and problems For the realisation of my project I needed to display five videos, which would be triggered by users stepping onto specific ‘buttons’ across the two paths within my installation. The five videos should be played & displayed separately onto a projector, which would also play the audio embedded into the videos. In order to achieve that I started to write the code in Processing, bearing in mind the few examples we developed during our classes. Whilst coding, I tried various ways of embedding the videos into Processing, however I encountered a few problems along the way, which included the software crashing down various times without any prediction. The most significant problem was that the videos would play in one specific order, but it was impossible to switch between them randomly. In the end, I was able to identify the problem (‘image’ above the ‘if key’ statement) and finalised my code.
final code My final code starts by importing the video library into the software before identifying the five different videos as well as setting the display size and the high-quality resolution. Next, I created a ‘movieEvent’ in order to render the videos as quickly as possible. The last step of my code consists out of creating five different ‘if’ statements, one for each of my videos. These ‘if’ statements make sure that if a certain key is pressed, a certain video plays, whilst all the others are paused.
1. error notification One of the most common errors that got displayed during my coding process.
2. first code draft My first draft of the code, which did not work as expected.
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Final code
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Final code
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adobe premiere pro cc 2017
Approach and realisation
video and audio sources
As my final idea is heavily dependent on video content showing the various sources of climate change and how individuals can contribute their part towards stopping the process, it was important for me to create impactful and visually appealing video content. To address a very broad audience the videos are informational but also easy to understand. To do create the five videos, I used stock footage and edited each video in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017, adding simple graphics. I then exported the videos as .mov files & loaded them into Processing.
The video and audio sources I have used for my project are all sourced from various websites, offering stock footage under the Creative Commons (CC) license, which is a copyright license that enables the distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work to the public for free. There are seven slightly varying versions and I used the CC0 license on all the sourced video and audio files as it allows the usage of free content without any restrictions. The two platforms I used to source content are ‘pexels.com’ and ‘bensound.com’.
1. error notification One of the most common errors that got displayed during my coding process.
2. first code draft My first draft of the code, which did not work as expected.
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realisation
planning and Organisation To realise my project in time, it was crucial to plan ahead and manage a short period of time in a successful way. However, my time management certainly got more complicated and complex as I started to encounter problems in finding a suitable topic. Organising special equipment such as the ride on car was an essential part of my project, especially under time pressure. To make my interactive experience even more interesting, I also decided to laser-cut some props, which are representing some of the main climate sources.
1. essential equipment In order to project the videos, I used a Casio projector as well as my MacBook.
2. laser cutting To visually enhance my project, I used the laser-cutter to make some props.
3. testing with makey makey To test if my code would work in real life, I run some trials both at home and on site, which gave me great insight into what I needed to improve.
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realisation
Interactions
Realisation
To make any interactions happening, I had to create five ‘buttons’, which were wired to the Makey Makey, which was again connected to the Processing software on my MacBook. The ‘buttons’ were made out of two cardboard pieces wrapped in tin foil and separated by three small pieces of cardboard, which ensured that the tin foil surfaces wouldn’t touch each other unless a person would step onto it (or a person on the ride on car would drive over it) and therefore trigger the videos. The buttons were then distributed across the two paths.
To put my project into realisation I spent two full days in the Design Studio, together with my classmates. The first day was spent organising the room layout and setting up the two individual paths including some of the wiring and the making of the five ‘buttons’. I spent the second day finalising the design and testing the interactions. Towards the end of the second day we all helped each other to finish any last tweaks and started filming. Afterwards we cleaned the studio and I started to import and edit my footage.
1. interaction equipment The first pictures show the making of the ‘buttons’ and how they can get triggered.
2. Setting up the studio The last picture on the right shows the setting up of the paths with tape.
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realisation
1. Wiring I had to wire five individual self-made buttons and hide the wires under tape.
2. laser cutting Some of the final assembled laser cuts, representing factories.
3. Ride on car The ride on car, which was essential to represent the ‘bad’ path.
4. wire management To not get confused with all the wires, I labelled and colour-managed them.
5. spatial environment (next page) This photograph shows the final spatial layout of my interactive experience. The two paths are clearly visible and none of the interaction ‘buttons’ are showing.
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realisation
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Filming and editing
filming and editing
1. the filming process Editing the footage, I shot whilst setting up my interactive experience as well as people interacting with it in room F8 (Design Studio) at the Merchiston Campus of the Edinburgh Napier University on the 24th of October 2017.
2. filming equipment I filmed my interactive experience using my Sony Alpha 6000 camera as well as my iPhone 5S.
For the filming part of my interactive experience I used my Sony Alpha 6000 with the standard kit lens as well as my iPhone 5S. To be totally fair I encountered some difficulties, whilst filming mostly because of some time pressure which caused me to not properly think about my recording format & therefore having difficulties with my footage. I edited my video in Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017 and tried to not only show the experience of my project itself but also how much work I put into it & how it developed over time.
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Conclusion
What i have learned Firstly, I would like to mention the fact that I have never used any code or programming software before in my life. Therefore, I found it really hard to get into, but also exciting and interesting at the same time. Some problems did occur with my code, but could be solved with a little investigation by myself into the topic and the help of my classmates. Secondly, the realisation of my project definitely was a lesson to be learned in itself. Organising such a big reallife installations is hugely dependant on one’s time management skills and
the ability to think fast and creative in stressful situations. Latter applies especially to my filming process as it seemed that everything, that worked fine during the test phases, caused complications as soon as a camera was pointed on it. Overall, I’ve definitely gained a good insight into Processing & created a functioning interactive experience using the software & Makey Makey. Additionally, I’ve learned how to manage my time more appropriately, which will definitely be of good use for the next assignment.
1. problems during filming Some of the problems that I encountered during filming, mostly technically based.
2. unexpected outcomes A photograph taken after the usage of my interactive experience.
Project One Experiencing information MA Interaction Design Theresa Wiesinger 2017